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Black Rock Desert volcanic field

Black Rock Desert

Volcanic field · United States · 1800m

The Black Rock Desert volcanic field consists of a cluster of closely spaced small volcanic fields of Pleistocene-to-Holocene age in the Black Rock and Sevier deserts.  This view shows Utah's youngest known lava flow, the 660-year-old Ice Springs flow, which originated from a series of nested cinder and spatter cones.  The rim of Crescent Crater is at the right, with the symmetrical Pocket Crater at the left and Pavant Butte in the distance.  This tuff cone erupted through the waters of Pleistocene Lake Bonneville about 16,000 years ago.
The Black Rock Desert volcanic field consists of a cluster of closely spaced small volcanic fields of Pleistocene-to-Holocene age in the Black Rock and Sevier deserts. This view shows Utah's youngest known lava flow, the 660-year-old Ice Springs flow, which originated from a series of nested cinder and spatter cones. The rim of Crescent Crater is at the right, with the symmetrical Pocket Crater at the left and Pavant Butte in the distance. This tuff cone erupted through the waters of Pleistocene Lake Bonneville about 16,000 years ago. · Photo: Photo by Lee Siebert, 1996 (Smithsonian Institution). · Wikimedia Commons
Type
Volcanic field
Country
United States
Region
North America Volcanic Regions / Basin and Range Volcanic Province
Elevation
1800m
Coordinates
38.970, -112.500
Last eruption
1290
Tectonic setting
Rift zone / Continental crust (> 25 km)
Landform
Cluster
Major rock type
Basalt / Picro-Basalt
Geological summary

The Black Rock Desert volcanic field consists of a group of closely spaced small Pleistocene-to-Holocene volcanic fields in the Black Rock and Sevier deserts of south-central Utah, at the eastern margin of the Great Basin. The Black Rock Desert field contains both Utah's youngest known rhyolite dome (400,000 years old) and its youngest eruptive vent, which produced the roughly 660-year-old Ice Springs lava flows. The broader volcanic field includes the smaller Deseret, Pavant, Kanosh, Tabernacle, Ice Spring, and northern Black Rock Desert fields. The Pavant Butte and Tabernacle Hill tuff cones were erupted about 16,000 and 14,000 years ago through the waters of glacial Lake Bonneville. Lava flows from the Ice Springs crater complex traveled about 4 km west and north, overlapping late-Pleistocene flows from Pavant Butte.

From Wikipedia

The Black Rock Desert volcanic field in Millard County, Utah, is a cluster of several volcanic features of the Great Basin including Pahvant Butte, The Cinders, and Tabernacle Hill. The field's Ice Springs event was an explosive eruption followed by lava flows that were Utah's most recent volcanic activity. which overlapped the older flows of Pavant Butte.

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Eruption history

Summary (VEI over time)
Click a bar to see individual eruptions
1290~1290 · 1 eruptions · max VEI ?12901290129112911291

Detailed timeline

  1. 1290 (±150 yrs)VEI ?Geological estimate
    1290 – Ongoing
    Ice Springs Craters

External links

⚠ For reference only. Not for emergency response.